For most of her adult life, Ms. Williams, 52, has moved from one friend’s apartment to another so that she would not have to go to a homeless shelter. By her count, she has stayed in more than a dozen places, mostly in Brooklyn, where she grew up. Sometimes it is for a couple of days, sometimes for a couple of months.

“I’ve lived everywhere,” she said. “People are nice to me and say I can stay with them.”

For now, home is the Flatbush apartment of Elaine Coles, 82, whom she met through a friend at a bingo hall 15 years ago. Most nights, the two women sit down together for dinner. Ms. Coles cooks for them, and Ms. Williams washes the dishes. They have become so close that Ms. Williams calls her Ma.

“She’s been very good to me,” said Ms. Williams, who has developmental disabilities. “She watches over me and makes sure I come out of the house looking like I should. I would do anything for her.”

Ms. Williams was the third of five girls raised by their mother, Theresa Codrington, a dietitian in East New York, Brooklyn. She died of lung cancer in 1991. Ms. Williams said she could not remember her father, Percy Williams, a cook on a ship, who died when she was a toddler.

Her family was poor, Ms. Williams said, but her mother always made sure there were new toys at Christmas: a bike, dolls, roller skates. Ms. Williams, who struggled in school, recalled that her mother was especially protective of her. As her sisters moved out and started families of their own, Ms. Williams stayed at home.

“My childhood was pretty good,” Ms. Williams said. “I loved every bit of it. I wish I still had a mother.”

After her mother’s death, Ms. Williams moved in with an older sister, who later died of drug-related causes, she said. Ms. Williams was then on her own. Her other sisters do not live in New York. She did not want to live anywhere else. “If I had to leave, I would, but I’m used to it and I love it,” she said. “To go to another state, I’d be lost.”

Ms. Williams has diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and other health problems. She learned to give herself insulin shots, twice a day, so that she did not have to wait for a nurse. “I don’t want anyone to say I’m a burden to them, so I try to do everything myself,” she said.

Ms. Williams, who is unemployed, attends a support program that teaches her life skills such as managing time and money and using a computer. She has had jobs assembling and packing up items for businesses, like tennis balls and hospital trays.

She receives $754 monthly in benefits, including $183 in food stamps. She pays Ms. Coles $400 every month and spends $50 a month on a phone bill.

Ms. Williams headed for Burlington Coat Factory in Downtown Brooklyn, where she bought a green down coat that goes to her knees for $85. She was so excited that she wore the coat the next day in 70-degree temperatures to show it off. She used the rest of the money to buy underwear, socks, pajamas, a hat and a scarf.

“I can’t even remember the last time I bought a new coat,” she said. “By the time I finish paying bills and everything, then I’m back to square one.”

Ms. Williams said she has been happy living with Ms. Coles, who looks after her. She reminds Ms. Williams to fix her hair in the morning, or change into a nicer shirt. Ms. Williams said she looked forward to their home-cooked meals; her favorite is the baked chicken. Afterward, they watch television and talk.

“We don’t have no problem,” Ms. Coles said. “Whatever I tell her, she listens. She says I don’t ever tell her anything wrong. I talk to her like I talk to my kid.”

Ms. Coles helped Ms. Williams save $220 in the past month, putting a little of Ms. Williams’s money away for her every week so that she could take a bus to Pennsylvania to spend Thanksgiving with relatives.

To get ready for the trip, Ms. Williams was washing her clothes in a basement laundry room on a recent afternoon. She owned only three pairs of pants, she said, and had been wearing faded black jeans all week because the others were dirty.

“I think I’m doing a lot better now,” Ms. Williams said, holding her old coat with the broken zipper closed as she left the laundry room. She did not wear her new coat, she said, because she did not want to risk getting bleach on it.

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A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A26 of the New York edition with the headline: Kept From Homelessness by the Kindness and Caring of Friends. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe